Vehicle Data Distribution System and Method

1. A system for distributing data from devices on-board a vehicle, the system comprising: a switching component disposed on-board the vehicle and including a plurality of external interfaces to communicatively connect the switching component with a plurality of bearers external to the vehicle and an on-board network interface to communicatively connect the switching component with a communication network on-board the vehicle, the on-board communication network supporting a plurality of user devices on-board the vehicle; and the switching component being an on-board information distribution device configured to: switch first data that is received, via the on-board network interface and the on-board communication network, from a first user device to a first external interface of the plurality of external interfaces for delivery from the vehicle via a first bearer of the plurality of bearers; and switch second data that is received, via the on-board network interface and the on-board communication network, from a second user device to a second external interface of the plurality of external interfaces for delivery from the vehicle via a second bearer of the plurality of bearers, the first bearer of the plurality of bearers for delivering the first data from the vehicle and the second bearer of the plurality of bearers for delivering the second data from the vehicle selected based on a set of selection rules represented by a respective set of weightings applied to each selection criteria for a plurality of possible conditions associated with the vehicle, a plurality of different data characteristics, respective preferences of end-users of the plurality of user devices, and respective preferences of at least one of a system user or a system provider of the system, the set of selection rules indicating, for a set of first selection criteria including a plurality of current conditions associated with the vehicle, one or more characteristics of the first data to be delivered from the vehicle, a respective preference of an end-user of the first user device, and the respective preference of the at least one of the system user or the system provider of the system, a respective relative importance of each first selection criterion amongst the set of first selection criteria, the set of selection rules further indicating, for a set of second selection criteria including the plurality of current conditions associated with the vehicle, one or more characteristics of the second data to be delivered from the vehicle, a respective preference of an end-user of the second user device, and the respective preference of the at least one of the system user or the system provider of the system, a respective relative importance of each second selection criterion amongst the set of second selection criteria, and at least one of the plurality of current conditions detected by the vehicle.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the switching component is further configured to at least one of: switch third data received, onto the vehicle via the first bearer of the plurality of bearers and the first external interface, to the on-board network interface, the third data destined for the first user device; or switch fourth data received, onto the vehicle via the second bearer of the plurality of bearers and the second external interface, to the on-board network interface, the fourth data destined for the first user device.

3. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a bearer selection engine on-board the vehicle and comprising computer-executable instructions stored on one or more tangible computer storage media and executable by one or more processors to: (i) select the first bearer of the plurality of bearers for delivering the first data from the vehicle or the second bearer of the plurality of bearers for delivering the second data from the vehicle, and (ii) select another bearer for receiving data onto the vehicle, the selected bearer for receiving data onto the vehicle being different than a selected bearer for delivering data from the vehicle; and wherein the plurality of the current conditions includes a current physical state of the vehicle that is detected by the vehicle during a journey of the vehicle from an origination point to a destination point.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the selection of the first bearer of the plurality of bearers or the selection of the second bearer of the plurality of bearers is based on at least one of a cost of using the first bearer of the plurality of bearers or a cost of using the second bearer of the plurality of bearers.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the at least one of the selection of the first bearer of the plurality of bearers or the selection of the second bearer of the plurality of bearers is further based on at least one of a throughput of the first bearer of the plurality of bearers or a throughput of the second bearer of the plurality of bearers.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first bearer of the plurality of bearers includes a first link to a first cell site, and the second bearer of the plurality of bearers includes a second link to a second cell site.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first bearer of the plurality of bearers includes a first link to a cell site and the second bearer of the plurality of bearers includes a second link to a satellite.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein: the on-board communication network is a first on-board communication network included in a plurality of communication networks on-board the vehicle; the on-board network interface of the switching component is a first on-board network interface included in a plurality of on-board network interfaces of the switching component; and the switching component is further configured to switch third data received via the first bearer of the plurality of bearers or via the second bearer of the plurality of bearers to a second on-board network interface communicatively connecting the switching component to a second on-board communication network, the third data destined for an on-board device communicatively connected to the second on-board communication network.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein at least one of the first on-board communication network or the second on-board communication network is a wired communication network.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of different data characteristics includes two or more of: a content of data, a priority of data relative to respective priorities of other data, or a delivery urgency of data relative to respective delivery urgencies of the other data.

11. A switching device disposed on-board a vehicle, the switching device comprising: a plurality of external interfaces communicatively connecting the switching device with a plurality of bearers external to the vehicle; an on-board network interface communicatively connecting the switching device with a communication network on-board the vehicle; an information routing engine comprising first computer-executable instructions stored on one or more tangible computer storage media and executable by one or more processors to: route first data that is received, by the switching device at the on-board network interface, to a first external interface of the plurality of external interfaces for delivery from the vehicle via a first bearer of the plurality of bearers, the first data generated by a first user device communicatively connected to the on-board communication network; and route second data that is received, by the switching device at the on-board network interface to a second external interface of the plurality of external interfaces for delivery from the vehicle via a second bearer of the plurality of bearers, the second data generated by the first user device or by a second user device communicatively connected to the on-board communication network; and a bearer selection engine comprising second computer-executable instructions stored on the one or more tangible computer storage media and executable by the one or more processors to select the first bearer of the plurality of bearers for delivery of the first data from the vehicle and select the second bearer of the plurality of bearers for delivery of the second data from the vehicle based on a set of selection rules represented by a respective set of weightings applied to each selection criteria for a plurality of possible conditions associated with the vehicle, a plurality of data characteristics, respective preferences of end-users of the plurality of user devices, and respective preferences of at least one of a system user or a system provider of the system, the set of selection rules indicating, for a set of first selection criteria including a plurality of current conditions associated with the vehicle, one or more characteristics of the first data to be delivered from the vehicle, a respective preference of an end-user of the first user device, and the respective preference of the at least one of the system user or the system provider of the system, a respective relative importance of each first selection criterion amongst the set of first selection criteria, the set of selection rules further indicating, for a set of second selection criteria including the plurality of current conditions associated with the vehicle, one or more characteristics of the second data to be delivered from the vehicle, a respective preference of an end-user of the second user device, and the respective preference of the at least one of the system user or the system provider of the system, a respective relative importance of each second selection criterion amongst the set of second selection criteria, and at least one of the plurality of current conditions detected by the vehicle.

12. The switching device of claim 11 , wherein the first computer-executable instructions of the information routing engine are further executable by the processor to route third data that is received, onto the vehicle via the second bearer of the plurality of bearers and the second external interface, to the on-board network interface, the third data destined for the first user device.

13. The switching device of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of current conditions includes a current physical state of the vehicle that is detected by the vehicle during a journey of the vehicle from an origination point to a destination point.

14. The switching device of claim 11 , wherein at least one of the selection of the first bearer of the plurality of bearers or the selection of the second bearer of the plurality of bearers is based on at least one of a cost of using the first bearer of the plurality of bearers, a cost of using the second bearer of the plurality of bearers, a throughput of the first bearer of the plurality of bearers, or a throughput of the second bearer of the plurality of bearers.

15. The switching device of claim 11 , wherein the first bearer of the plurality of bearers includes a first link to a first cell site, and the second bearer of the plurality of bearers includes a second link to a second cell site.

16. The switching device of claim 11 , wherein the first bearer of the plurality of bearers includes a first link to a cell site and the second bearer of the plurality of bearers includes a second link to a satellite.

17. The switching device of claim 11 , wherein at least one of the first bearer of the plurality of bearers or the second bearer of the plurality of bearers supports LTE (Long Term Evolution).

18. The switching device of claim 11 , wherein at least one of the first bearer of the plurality of bearers or the second bearer of the plurality of bearers has a respective bandwidth that supports streaming data.

19. The switching device of claim 11 , wherein: the switching device comprises a plurality of on-board network interfaces communicatively connecting the switching device with a plurality of on-board communication networks; the information routing engine is further configured to switch fifth data received onto the vehicle via the first bearer of the plurality of bearers or via the second bearer of the plurality of bearers to another on-board network interface communicatively connecting the switching device to another on-board communication network, the fifth data destined for an on-board device communicatively connected to the another onboard communication network; and the on-board communication network is a wireless communication network.

20. The switching device of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of different data characteristics includes two or more of: a content of data, a priority of data relative to respective priorities of other data, or a delivery urgency of data relative to respective delivery urgencies of other data.